Moddeling Question

I'm about to start school this January 6th and will be majoring in "Simulation & Game Development", one of the modeling classes I'll be taking will be teaching me how to use 3DS Max. My question is, is this the best program out to model with Team Fortress 2?

There are a number of programs out there and I'd like to know what's best for TF2?
Perhaps Lightwave, 3DS Max, Maya, GMax, or Sketchup?

Lightwave looks pretty similar to how Hammer is with the four views, but I dunno.

Well, none are really better than the other for tf2, but for modeling, none of them compare to it, maya is more geared towards animation, gmax and sketchup are garbage, and I've never used lightwave, so I can't really speak for it.

In my experience I also have to say 3DS is the best for regular old modelling. As far as I know you can model with lightwave, but it is very focused on rendering, materials and effects. And as selentic said, maya is mostly good for animation.